Masham Community Office 2025
Masham Community Office, Little Market Place by Andrew Burns
Hello MPC Members and Friends,
Members have requested a bit more information about the different trails in and around Masham that we have been asked to photograph. I’ve listed a bit of information about each trail below. There is an excellent brochure available in the Community Office for each trail that includes a good map showing the route of each trail along with a detailed description of each key stop along the way.
If you would like more information and / or if you can help please let Andy or me know. All of the trails would be a lot of fun to walk and photograph and you might learn a great deal about Masham!
Photographs should be taken at the highest quality level possible and saved on a thumb drive, which can be handed in to the Community Office or to Tom or Andy. Or, you can send your photos to the Community Office using WeTransfer. We can supply you with email address details. If you would like any assistance with using WeTransfer just ask!
More than one person can sign up to take a photograph of each key focus of interest along each of the trails. If you are happy to work with another member we will put you in touch with another person who shares an interest in the same trail. Or, if there are particular sites that you would like to photograph let us know!
Many thanks,
Tom & Andy
THE SWIFT TRAIL
There are ten unique sculptures of swifts dotted around Masham. The sculptures were originally commissioned by the Masham Arts Festival, which no longer exists. The locations are:
Little Market Place
Northeast of Market Place
Millgate
St. Mary’s Church
Chapman Lane
Methodist Chapel
Park Street
Church Street & Coillege Lane
Silver Street
Market Place
Swifts have long been associated with Masham and the Mashamshire Swift Conservatoin Community Project has encouraged members of the community to support their survival.
An excellent brochure is available in the Community Office that describes each location and sculpture along with a map showing the location of each one.
MASHAM LEAVES TRAIL
An excellent brochure is available in the Community Office that includes a great map with a description of each stop along this trail. Walking the trail would make a lovely day out, maybe stopping for a picnic along the way. Walking this trail will reveal the extraordinary natural beauty of our area with several exceptionally nice stops along the River Ure. If walking the entire trail in one go is not viable, it would be easy to drive and park to reach the different stops.
The Leaves trail includes 6 locations. They are:
The Acorn (near the school hall door)
The Standing Tree (in the field near the sheep racing area)
The Floating Leaf (along the bank of the River Ure)
The Shrine (along the River Burn on the golf course)
The Enclosure (field adjacent to the golf course)
The Footbridge (along the riverbank walk toward the Fisherman’s Hut)
RIVERSIDE STROLL
This trail is shorter than the Leaves Trail but includes some of the same stops. The trail begins at Millgate, just past the school. The trail is a circle that runs along the River Ure, on to St. Mary’s churchyard, and back to the Market Place. The key stops along the way include Millgate, the Floating Leaf, a wartime underground bunker, St. Mary’s Saxon Cross, and the Market Square.
An excellent brochure is available in the Community Office that includes a map and a description of each of the key stops along the way.
HISTORY TRAIL
The History Trail includes 16 buildings / locations of historical note around Masham. A brochure is available in the Community Office that describes each site and shows its location on a map. The trail is easily followed and the 16 locations are easily accessible.
Market Cross
Grammar and Free Schools
Old Poor House
Mill House
Chapman Lane
Alms Houses
Methodist Chapel
HSBC Bank (now holiday rental)
Park House
College House
Original Theakston Brewery
White Bear Memorial
Jubilee Fountain
Town Hall
Lost Cemetery
Parish Church
​
Route for the Riverside Stroll
Start at the Town Hall, walk toward the town square, bear left…..
Pass by the primary school, see the “acorn” in the wall, soon on your left is….
Millgate, an historic building now a house, carry on straight ahead, across the cattle grid, until….
Sewage works! On your left, the entrance to the sewage processing plant, keep walking straight ahead!….
Stay on the river path and walk several hundred metres and you will eventually see, on your left….
The floating Leaf! First f all, it’s a stone sculpture, second of all it’s not floating - just an interesting sculpture, sp photograph it and keep on the path a short distance until you reach to intersection of the Burn (smallish stream) running into the Ure, just stick to the main path you’ve been walking on and progress up the gentle hill…..
The path will intersect with a track just opposite I’Anson’s mill, just stick to the path and turn right….. you’re now on a slightly wider track and you’ll walk up a gentle hill with the back of a small housing development on your left, until…..
Turn right and pass through the “kissing gate”, a small ancient oak gate (I never knew it had a name!) and follow the path, bear left alongside a bid beautiful field on your right and about 75 metres along the path turns left and you go through a second “kissing gate” …
Stay on the path and on your left is a fenced in field for reindeer!! There are two babies, a cream coloured one and a black one, I don’t like seeing them fenced in but the babies are really sweet, like baby moose….
You will exit this area through a gate into the St Mary’s churchyard and walk past the Saxon Cross and on to the market square …
You’re back!!
This walk basically takes you in a big circle from the school and back to the square via a path along the Ure.